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| Ancient Order of Hibernians (mid-nineteenth century) |
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| Irish semi-secret society that served as a benevolent organization for downtrodden Irish immigrants in the United States. |
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| Maria Monk’s sensational expose of alleged horrors in Catholic convents. Its popularity reflected nativist fears of Catholic influence. |
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| clipper ships (1840s-1850s) |
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| Small, swift vessels that gave American shippers an advantage in the carrying trade. Clipper ships were made largely obsolete by the advent of sturdier, roomier iron steamers on the eve of the Civil War. |
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| Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842) |
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| Massachusetts Supreme Court decision that strengthened the labor movement by upholding the legality of unions. |
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| Eli Whitney’s invention that sped up the process of harvesting cotton. The gin made cotton cultivation more profitable, revitalizing the Southern economy and increasing the importance of slavery in the South. |
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| Pervasive nineteenth century cultural creed that venerated the domestic role of women. It gave married women greater authority to shape home life but limited opportunities outside the domestic sphere. |
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| Inventor of the mechanical reaper that transformed grain growing into a business |
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| Historians’ term for the spoliation of Western natural resources through excessive hunting, logging, mining, and grazing. |
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| Erie Canal (completed 1825) |
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Definition
| New York state canal that linked Lake Erie to the Hudson River. It dramatically lowered shipping costs, fueling an economic boom in upstate New York and increasing the profitability of farming in the Old Northwest. |
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| Know-Nothing party (1850s) |
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| Nativist political party, also known as the American party, which emerged in response to an influx of immigrants, particularly Irish Catholics. |
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| Legal principle that facilitates capital investment by offering protection for individual investors, who, in cases of legal claims or bankruptcy, cannot be held responsible for more than the value of their individual shares. |
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| Eighteenth and nineteenth century transformation from a disaggregated, subsistence economy to a national commercial and industrial network. |
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| New York governor who built the Erie Canal |
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| Mechanized the harvest of grains, such as wheat, allowing farmers to cultivate larger plots. The introduction of the reaper in the 1830s fueled the establishment of large-scale commercial agriculture in the Midwest. |
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| Molly Maguires (1860s-1870s) |
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| Secret organization of Irish miners that campaigned, at times violently, against poor working conditions in the Pennsylvania mines. |
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| Inventor of a machine that revolutionized the ready-made clothing industry |
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| Federal government bureau that reviews patent applications. A patent is a legal recognition of a new invention, granting exclusive rights to the inventor for a period of years. |
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| Short-lived, speedy mail service between Missouri and California that relied on lightweight riders galloping between closely-placed outposts. |
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| The principal marketplace of the Northwest fur trade, which peaked in the 1820s and 1830s. Each summer, traders set up camps in the Rocky Mountains to exchange manufactured goods for beaver pelts. |
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| Ralph Waldo Emerson’s popular lecture-essay that reflected the spirit of individualism pervasive in American popular culture during the 1830s and 1840s. |
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| Tammany Hall (established 1789) |
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| Powerful New York political machine that primarily drew support from the city’s immigrants, who depended on Tammany Hall patronage, particularly social services. |
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| transportation revolution |
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| Term referring to a series of nineteenth century transportation innovations–turnpikes, steamboats, canals and railroads–that linked local and regional markets, creating a national economy. |
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| Agitators against immigrants and Roman Catholics |
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| Privately-funded, toll-based public road constructed in the early nineteenth century to facilitate commerce. |
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| Wealthy New York manufacturer who laid the first temporary transatlantic cable in 1858 |
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| Radical, secret Irish labor union of the 1860s and 1870s |
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| Painter turned inventor who developed the first reliable system for instant communication across distance |
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| Immigrant mechanic who initiated American industrialization by setting up his cotton-spinning factory in 1791 |
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| Commonwealth v. Hunt Pioneering |
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| Massachusetts Supreme Court decision that declared labor unions legal |
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| Prominent figure who helped turn teaching into a largely female profession |
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| Developer of a folly that made rivers two-way streams of transportation |
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| Yankee mechanical genius who revolutionized cotton production and created the system of interchangeable parts |
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| Escaped nun whose lurid book Awful Disclosures became an anti-Catholic best seller in the 1830s |
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| Supreme Court justice whose ruling in the Charles River Bridge case opened chartered monopolies to competition |
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| Weapons manufacturer whose popular revolver used Whitney’s system of interchangeable parts |
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